Earnings Inequality Within and Across Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Groups in Four Latin American Countries

Jacobsen, Joyce P.Cunningham, Wendy2012-05-302012-05-302008-04https://hdl.handle.net/10986/6724Latin American countries are generally characterized as displaying high income and earnings inequality overall along with high inequality by gender, race, and ethnicity. However, the latter phenomenon is not a major contributor to the former phenomenon. Using household survey data from four Latin American countries (Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala, and Guyana) for which stratification by race or ethnicity is possible, this paper demonstrates (using Theil index decompositions as well as Gini indices, and 90/10 and 50/10 percentile comparisons) that within-group earnings inequality rather than between-group earnings inequality is the main contributor to overall earnings inequality. Simulations in which the relatively disadvantaged gender and/or racial/ethnic group is treated as if it were the relatively advantaged group tend to reduce overall earnings inequality measures only slightly and in some cases have the effect of increasing earnings inequality measures.CC BY 3.0 IGOACCESS OF GIRLSACCESS OF GIRLS TO EDUCATIONACCOUNTINGAFFIRMATIVE ACTIONAFFIRMATIVE ACTION POLICIESANTIDISCRIMINATIONBETWEEN-GROUP INEQUALITYCALCULATIONSCASH TRANSFERSCHILD LABORCONTRIBUTIONDATA SETDATA SETSDEMOGRAPHIC GROUPSDEVELOPING AREASDEVELOPMENT BANKDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDISCRIMINATIONEARNINGSEARNINGS INEQUALITYEARNINGS MEASUREEARNINGS MEASURESECONOMIC ACTIVITYECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC INEQUALITYECONOMIC MANAGEMENTECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIESECONOMIC REVIEWECONOMIC STUDIESEDUCATION LEVELEDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTEDUCATIONAL SYSTEMEMPIRICAL ANALYSISEMPIRICAL RESULTSEMPLOYEEEMPLOYEREMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIESENDOWMENTSENROLLMENTENTRY POINTSEQUAL PARTNERSEQUAL PAYEQUAL RIGHTSEQUAL TREATMENTETHNIC GROUPSEXPLANATORY VARIABLESEXTREME POVERTYFAMILY INCOMESFEMALEFINANCIAL SUPPORTGENDERGENDER ANALYSISGENDER DIFFERENCESGENDER INEQUALITYGENDER QUOTASGENDERSGLOBAL ECONOMYGREATER ACCESSGROUP INEQUALITIESGROUP INEQUALITYHIGH INEQUALITYHOUSEHOLD COMPOSITIONHOUSEHOLD INCOMEHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSHOUSEHOLDSHUMAN CAPITALINCOME DISTRIBUTIONINCOME DISTRIBUTIONSINCOME INEQUALITYINDIGENOUS WOMENINEQUALITIESINEQUALITYINEQUALITY CHANGESINEQUALITY INDEXINEQUALITY LEVELSINEQUALITY MEASUREINEQUALITY MEASUREMENTINEQUALITY MEASURESINEQUALITY VALUESINFORMAL SECTORINTERGENERATIONAL MOBILITYINTERNATIONAL BANKLABOR FORCELABOR FORCE PARTICIPATIONLABOR MARKETLABOR MARKETSLATIN AMERICANLEGISLATIONMEAN CHARACTERISTICMEASURE OF EARNINGSMEASURED INEQUALITYMEASURING INCOME INEQUALITYMEASURING INEQUALITYMINIMUM WAGEMINIMUM WAGESNET CHANGENET EFFECTNORMAL DISTRIBUTIONPEOPLESPERSISTENT INEQUALITYPOLICY MEASURESPOLICY RESEARCHPOLITICAL ECONOMYPOPULATION STUDIESPOPULATION SUBGROUPSPOSITIVE EFFECTPOVERTY CHANGESPOVERTY RATESPOVERTY REDUCTIONPRODUCTIVITYPRODUCTIVITY GROWTHPUBLIC POLICYPUBLIC SECTORRACIAL GROUPSREDISTRIBUTION POLICIESREGIONAL INEQUALITYREGRESSION ANALYSISREGRESSION RESULTSRESEARCH ASSISTANCERISING INEQUALITYSECONDARY EDUCATIONSOCIAL EXCLUSIONSOCIAL INEQUALITYSOCIAL NETWORKSSOCIAL PROTECTIONSOURCE OF INCOMESOUTH AMERICAVALUABLEVOUCHERSWAGE DIFFERENTIALWAGE DIFFERENTIALSWAGE GAPWAGE GAPSWILLWOMANWORTHEarnings Inequality Within and Across Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Groups in Four Latin American CountriesWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-4591